ROLI Meets The Operatives: Discovering new musical dimensions

For the latest episode of ROLI Meets, we celebrate the launch of ROLI instruments across Australia and New Zealand in a city renowned for its vibrant arts scene with The Operatives, a collective of Melbourne’s (Naarm) most innovative musical talents.

For the past two decades, The Operatives have pushed forward Australia's musical taste, showcasing artists like Flying Lotus, Thundercat, and TOKiMONSTA and booking festivals like Let Them Eat Cake and The Dot. Led by founder Jerry Poon, the Ops are a multi-hyphenate group of multi-instrumentalist creatives, including DJs, producers, singers, and visual artists. As Jerry notes, "The Operatives were there to bring in something new, something progressive and not be bound by genres, but quality."

We share the Seaboard RISE 2 with Silentjay — AKA Nap King Cole — known for his rich musical textures and soulful voice, bringing a unique blend of influences to his work as a solo producer and for the likes of Sampa The Great and Hiatus Kaiyote. With a background in jazz improvisation and an impressive array of instruments, he creates a sound that's deeply rooted in his diverse musical upbringing. Reflecting on Melbourne's music scene, Jay remarks, "What's cool about Melbourne is that it has this sharehouse community, an expansion of the bedroom studio, with the community."

As a pioneer in Melbourne's R&B and neo-soul scene, Billy Davis has carved out a niche with his distinct sound and collaborative spirit, he’s a prodigal piano player and the musical director for artists like Jessica Mauboy, Seth Sentry and Tash Sings. His latest album, “This Is What’s Important” explores themes of family, love, and life, inspired by his personal experiences and influences. His description of trying the Seaboard for the first encapsulates his excitement for new musical possibilities: "Since I got the Seaboard, I've been playing string instruments, flamenco type playing, guitar solos just on keys, in a way I've never been able to do before."

Emerging from Melbourne's South East, c000kie is an R&B singer-songwriter with a captivating presence. Her music, influenced by artists like Erykah Badu and Tyler the Creator, blends melancholy with club-ready beats. During her first experience with the LUMI Keys Studio Edition, she found the instrument's 4D Touch particularly engaging. "The pitch-bending function was really physical, you're able to just manifest a lot of sounds at the tip of your fingers," she says.

As part of the duo Fly Boy Jack, Jujo strives to create an international sound that transcends geographical boundaries. The duo's ambition is to provide a platform for those who feel out of place in the conventional music industry. Jujo expressed his admiration for the extensive ROLI Studio library. "There's a lot of packs to go through, a lot of great sounds — but what you can do with them, the filters, the FX, multi-channel distortion, an arpeggiator that you can do in separate layers, it's pretty crazy."

Exploring the LUMI Keys Studio Edition, producer-duo jupita & bbsanii, known as bbsofi expressed enthusiasm for how it complements their existing gear.

The Operatives, with their genre-defying approach, have found a new creative outlet in ROLI's innovative instruments. "Watching the generations of artists utilize the tools they have in front of them is quite a phenomenal thing to see,” says Jerry. “How they use technology — not just software, but the hardware too — is key to the development of music."

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